Help plan NINA's 2010 training

NINA's incoming NINA president, Mike Cetera of the Beacon News in Aurora, has proposed a training theme for 2010. It addresses access to public information in our communities ... and challenges to that access. For instance, police and fire departments are looking to adopt new, proprietary radio technology that will not be accessible to the public via scanner radios. Does the public understand the implications of this?

What other access issues are you and your newspapers facing? Availability of public safety officials to speak with reporters? Indefinite delays in responding to FOIA requests? Governmental bodies playing fast and loose with the Illinois Open Meetings Act?

If you're experiencing challenges in getting important information to the public, we'd like to know about them. As trends emerge, NINA would like to plan training sessions around how the press can work with public officials for everyone's benefit.

So, please send me ideas and concerns - either by commenting below, or by e-mailing me. and I will compile them and get them to the NINA board for its January meeting. And if you have ideas for training on issues other than access, please send those along, too. Thanks.

All a-Twitter

NINA is now on Twitter. Find us and follow us @NINAnewspapers

Shield Law update

From Logan Aimone at Associated Collegiate Press:

The Senate Judiciary Committee is debating the Federal Shield Law this morning. The SPJ is tweeting @spj_tweets and so is Clint Hendler @clinthendler of Columbia Journalism Review. You can also watch the live stream:
http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=4218

Sen. John Kyl of Arizona, the minority whip, is offering a slew of amendments about national security. Sen. Dianne Feinstein voted with him on at least one, according to the SPJ tweet, and she was the only Democrat to do so.

E&P will be no more

Editor & Publisher is going out of business. Story here.

Dart Center award

The Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma is sponsoring an award for coverage of "exemplary journalism on the impact of violence, crime, disaster and other traumatic events on individuals, families and communities. Entries should focus on the experience of victims and survivors and should contribute to public understanding of trauma-related issues."

The Dart Awards recognize newspaper, magazine, online, radio, television, video and multimedia journalism that goes beyond the ordinary in reporting on trauma. Entries may include breaking news, enterprise reporting, single stories, packages of coverage on a single event, cohesive series, local, regional or national television coverage, long-form documentary and online multimedia packages.

Info and application materials are here.

Future of News Summit

There's an important event going on today in Minnesota: The Future of News Summit. You can watch it live HERE. It's being put on by Minnesota Public Radio.

Facebook Webinar reminder

Don't forget about Thursday afternoon's Poynter Webinar: "Facebook for Journalists." $10 discount for NINA members. You'll need to contact me in advance for the code.

Full info here.

Uncle Jay Explains the News

Insightful analysis of the past week's TV news coverage, from a guy named Uncle Jay.

Thanks to retired NIU journalism professor Avi Bass for spotting this one.

A tough call

Tricky ethical situation in DeKalb. An NIU student jumped in front of a train and was killed Wednesday. Though not officially declared as such, it was pretty clearly a suicide. The Northern Star had the name late last night but decided not to use it in the story. The Daily Chronicle did use the name - presumably because this happened semi-publicly, just west of town, and because it hadn't been ruled a suicide yet.

My take on these types of things is, when in doubt, err on the side of not causing further pain to a hurting family. Unless a presumed suicide creates a major public spectacle, or involves someone well-known, I don't think printing the name is all that helpful. And if this week's case turns out to be something other than suicide, then printing the person's name in a follow-up story seems like a better approach.

Declaring winners and losers

Here's a post from the GetReligion blog about how the media frame political stories. Forget for a moment that the issue is gay marriage, and look instead at how easy it is for journalists to slant any story -- knowingly or unknowingly -- in subtle ways. It's a good lesson.

"Old Dogs are the Best Dogs"

Just a great piece of writing here from Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post. Sometimes we need to remember why we got into this business. Telling stories like this one tops my list.

A week without AP?

Tribune will try going next week with little or no AP copy. Phil Rosenthal blog entry. Thanks to several who forwarded this.

Seems that an even bigger issue for Illinois could be that, if the Trib were no longer a member, AP could not offer Trib rewrites to the rest of the state.

"Losing the News"

In case you missed this: Kathleen Parker's column in today's Chicago Tribune. It's about Alex Jones' new book, "Losing the News," about the state of the newspaper industry. The book is important, and the column is optimistic!

See the winning entries

Along with the listing of all NINA award winners from Oct. 21, we've now also added links so you can view most of the first-place entries. Here's the main results page.

Shield laws, schmield laws

Keep an eye on this story. If Cook County prosecutors are successful in subpoenaing reporting records from a Northwestern University journalism class, that's very bad news for journalism and the First Amendment. Basically, prosecutors are claiming that student journalists are not real journalists and thus not protected by shield laws.

News flash: Tough market for J grads

Well, this is no good. Not surprising, but the numbers are still jarring. The Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Graduates shows that just 60 percent of 2008 grads had found full-time employment six to eight months after graduation. that's down from about 70 percent in 2007.

And I don't even want to hear about this year's grads.

Webinar, and a NINA discount

NINA members are invited to take part in a Poynter Institure NewsU Webinar: Facebook for Journalists.

Instructor: Ellyn Angelotti
Date: Nov. 12, 2009
Time: 1-2 p.m. Central time
Link: http://www.newsu.org/courses/course_detail.aspx?id=nwsu_facebook09
Cost: $24.95 ($14.95 after NINA discount)

If you're going to take part, contact me for your discount code.

Info from Poynter:
What will I learn?
Facebook isn't just for personal status updates and reconnecting with
high school friends; it's also a valuable journalistic tool. Facebook
in your news organization can reach new readers, enhance storytelling
and engage an online audience. In this one-hour Webinar we'll explore
ways other news organizations are using Facebook, potential business
benefits of Facebook and ethical challenges.
In this one-hour Webinar you will learn how to:
* Develop a Facebook strategy for your news organization
* Avoid common ethical potholes
* Use Facebook to find sources
* Build relationships with your audience
* Start conversations with your audience

MORE INFO

Fake AP Stylebook

Check out the Fake AP Stylebook on Twitter. Good stuff. Sample entries:

• The distinction between "thee" and "thou" depends on which Ren Faire troupe you belong to, you big nerd.
• The numbers one through ten should be spelled out while numbers greater than ten are products of the Illuminati and should be avoided.
• If you do not have an interviewees' full title, use their most defining physical trait (e.g. "Alan Hayes, fat guy, said...")
• You may not say "no one could have suspected..." until you have interviewed everyone on planet Earth.

NINA winners

NINA 2009 contest results are now posted here. Congrats to the winners!

NINA registration deadline approaches

A reminder that tomorrow -- Wednesday, Oct. 14 -- is the registration deadline for next Wednesday evening's NINA Fall Conference. All info and registration forms can be found HERE.

Note: I do NOT need to have your check in hand by this Wednesday. I just need the registration form so we get an accurate count. Checks may either be mailed to me or handed to me at the Oct. 21 event. If, however, we receive registrations and then someone is a no-show, we will still need to bill you.

Hope to see you next week. We have a great keynote speaker in George Papajohn from the Chicago Tribune, and we have a boatload of awards to give away.

Madigan to speak at FOIA primer Nov. 4

Press release:

Using FOIA in 2010

How to use the Freedom of Information Act – especially important because of the revisions that will take effect Jan. 1 – will be the topic of the eighth annual First Amendment Forum at 3 p.m.. Wednesday, Nov. 4 at IIT-Chicago Kent College of Law's Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Courtroom, 565 W. Adams St. (between Clinton and Jefferson streets).

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who led the drive to open more government records, will address the forum. Her FOIA specialists will explain the details of the revisions.

IIT-Chicago-Kent’s new Center for Open Government will be the host. Sponsors include the Chicago Headline Club, Chicago Journalists Association and International Press Club of Chicago, all the long-time co-sponsors of the annual forum.

All journalists and the general public are invited to attend the forum because of its importance to everyone. It is free and will last approximately two hours.

For more information:
Susan S. Stevens, Chicago Headline Club FOI vice president

Gwen Osborne, IIT-Chicago Kent, director of public affairs

Register for Fall Conference!

Reminder: Wednesday, Oct. 14 is the deadline to register for the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association’s Oct. 21 Fall Conference awards dinner. Our keynote speaker is George Papajohn, Associate Managing Editor/Investigations and Consumer Watchdog, Chicago Tribune. He’ll talk about the continued necessity of watchdog reporting, at all sizes of newspapers, in an age of economic uncertainty.

In 2007, George directed the Tribune’s "Hidden Hazards" project, which uncovered dangerous children's products and won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. That series led to a major overhaul of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. He has worked on investigative projects at the Tribune for 10 years, and helped edit the paper's Pulitzer-winning project on air travel called "Gateway to Gridlock" in 2000. He is co-author of "Murder of Innocence," an investigative account of a schoolhouse shooting.

All info about the conference, including the registration form, can be found HERE. We need an accurate dinner count by the end of the day Wednesday, Oct. 14. If your check arrives a few days behind your registration form, that’s OK.

No Olympics for you

So, did Chicago-area media cross from journalism to boosterism in support of the Olympic bid?

And where exactly is that line?

Two newsroom jobs open

Couple of newsroom job openings at The Times in Ottawa, Ill. Details here.

NINA Fall Conference Announced

The Northern Illinois Newpaper Association's upcoming Fall Conference and Awards Banquet features a change in date and format from previous years.

Rather than an all-day Friday event, this year’s event will be a dinner Wednesday, Oct. 21, featuring a keynote speaker, followed by the annual awards presentation.

Given the economic condition of most newsrooms, the NINA board decided that an all-day event was not practical for most member newspapers this year.

"As newspaper editors, NINA board members are as aware as anyone of the struggles our industry is facing. Staffing, time and money are all in short supply these days,” said Pete Nenni, NINA president. “The change in the day and format for our annual Fall Conference is in recognition of those constraints. We hope it provides the flexibility needed to allow many people to attend this worthwhile event.”

The evening’s keynote speaker had not been finalized at press time, but will be announced soon on NINA’s Web site and Digital Ink blog (www.ninaonline.org).

The entire event will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. at Ellington’s dining room in the Holmes Student Center at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.

The contest saw a slight increase in entries overall this year, despite the economic hardships in the business. In a cost-saving measure, winners will be given certificates rather than plaques, said Dirk Johnson, NINA executive secretary.

“The real value of a NINA award is an enhanced resume, not the hardware,” Johnson said.

That also allows NINA to reduce its Fall Conference registration cost from previous years. This year, it’s $45 for the first attendee from a member newspaper and $20 for each additional attendee. Individual members can attend for $20.

Registration deadline is Wednesday, Oct. 14.

Printable Registration form

Fall newsletter

It was 40 years ago ... yesterday

This week marks the 40th anniversary of the first publication of the "Paul is dead" rumor. Beatle fans picked up on "clues" in songs and on album jackets. Here's a long, academic look at the rumor and how it started. The student newspaper at Drake University is the earliest known source, followed by an unsourced story in the Northern Star at NIU. From there, it spread quickly ... even without the Internet.

NIU event Sept. 25

A letter from Dr. Lois Self, former NINA executive secretary:

Dear NINA friends,

As a former executive secretary and real fan of NINA, I am writing to ask for your help in publicizing the yearlong celebration of the NIU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Golden Anniversary. Of course, classes in humanities, social sciences, and sciences have been part of education at NIU throughout the school’s entire 115-year history. However, reorganization of the Division of Instruction of the old Teachers College in 1959 formally created the college and launched the rapid growth toward the comprehensive university Northern has become.

We will kick-off this anniversary year on Sept. 25 with a gala reception and dinner on campus honoring 50 Golden Anniversary Alumni Award winners, 10 from each of the college’s five decades. These alumni were nominated and selected from among the college’s more than 70,000 graduates. Their stories are indeed diverse and compelling. We are very pleased that over 90 percent of these distinguished honorees will be returning to campus from around the country, and some even from abroad, for this event. We have already received numerous letters of congratulations for the honorees and the college from prominent political figures. Your paper will be receiving a press release about this next week and information about anniversary events and celebrations through-out the year will be available on the Web at http://www.niu.edu/clas50/ and, of course, through the university’s Office of Public Affairs at publicaffairs@niu.edu.

Dr. Donald R. Grubb founded the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association at Northern Illinois University on Dec. 1, 1962. According to archival materials recently provided by his widow, Ruby Grubb, Dr. Grubb began working to form such an organization when he arrived on campus in 1959 to develop and serve as the first chair of the Department of Journalism. The NIU Journalism program boasts many outstanding alumni and continues to collaborate with NINA to support journalism education, professional development and recognition activities. Given our shared history and service region, it would seem particularly fitting for your paper to take note of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences 50th anniversary. We would very much appreciate a story, or an editorial congratulating the college on this milestone and listing our honorees, features on the alumni honorees, and/or news stories about the college. I believe such items would be of interest to the many NIU alumni and friends among your readers.

Best wishes,

Lois

Lois Self
Co-Chair,
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences 50th Anniversary Planning Committee

NIU Press Release about 50th Anniversary Web site

Maybe newspapers aren't dying

Got a nice note this week from one of my May 2009 grads, and thought it was worth sharing (with his permission). He got a reporting job at the Charles City Press, a daily paper in northern Iowa. This was not the most attractive move for a guy who'd lived his whole life in suburban Chicago. But, he writes ...

"I'm happy with my decision. I'm not getting paid a whole lot of money-though that's to be expected-but I get benefits and it's stable. I don't really think the newspaper business is as bad as people think. While the big metros are struggling, thus hurting the business, there are still hundreds of towns that rely on newspapers for, well, news. Towns like Charles City don't have TV stations or bloggers who steal from the newspapers or Huffington Posts that care about what's going on here. (The Press doesn't even put all of its content online to keep people subscribing to the print product.)

"If students want to work for a newspapers, I still think they can find ones to work at. They might not be the New York Times, but anything is a start. Besides, I'm also getting experience designing pages, taking photos and putting content at the Web site, things I might not be able to do at a bigger paper. Over the summer, I applied for magazines and Web sites (there weren't many opportunities at either) but didn't get so much as an interview. I've also written a blog and contributed to a sports Web site, but I didn't make a dime doing either.

"Working for a newspaper is still an attainable job for those students with a passion for it. And having that passion is a necessity because you aren't going to get paid a ton of money, at least not right away. But you'll be able to do what you enjoy for a living, and I think that's why most people get into journalism in the first place."

This is the message we need to keep telling people: that what they're hearing and reading about the newspaper biz doesn't apply everywhere. Newspapers remain the lifeblood of many, many communities. I think we sometimes forget that.

"The Rush to be Wrong"

A really good opinion piece today, The Rush to be Wrong, about CNN and the Coast Guard exercise. It's by former CNN reporter Jamie McIntyre. Key line:

Some senior editor should have stood up and shouted, “Wait! We’re not reporting this until we nail it down.” But if any such protestation was made, it fell on deaf ears of the anxious show producers who, unfortunately, sometimes lack the wisdom and experience to make sophisticated judgments. When it comes to “TV news,” they often know more about “TV” than “news.”

Why accurate trumps first

CNN scared the nation Friday morning by mistaking a Coast Guard training exercise for a potential terrorist attack. The problem: CNN didn’t verify anything before putting it on the air. This from Al’s Morning Meeting on the Poynter Institute site:

Reputable news organizations reporting bad information appears to be a growing problem in the American news media. Some newsrooms are cutting corners by not
verifying information. Others are recycling incorrect information by simply reposting the work of others on their Web sites. Although cable news programs face a certain pressure to be first and fill a lot of time with breaking news, all newsrooms can stumble in the race to be first. The skill of verifying facts is more important than ever. And it may be the only thing that elevates journalism above the rest of the noise on the Internet.

Ethics Challenge

Here’s the first in an occasional series of what-would-you-do questions regarding journalistic ethics.

The local police want the paper to participate in a sting operation. Crooks have been reading the obits in the paper, noting funeral times, then robbing the bereaved families’ houses during the funerals. The police want to run a fake obit in the paper, and then wait inside the house at the address listed. When the crooks enter, the cops will arrest them. They promise that a reporter and photographer can wait inside the house with officers.

You’re the editor. Do you agree to this? Why or why not? If yes, do you place any conditions on this deal?

Save the Date

New format for the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association's Fall Conference this year: It's an evening program, with dinner, keynoter and awards ceremony. Wednesday, Oct. 21, 6 to 9 p.m. in NIU's Holmes Student Center. More info soon.

Jobs posting

Since it's been so rare to see newsroom job listings in the past year, I thought it might be good to post these here:

1. The Rockford (Ill.) Register Star and http://www.facebook.com/l/;rrstar.com seek an editor to drive coverage for our daily Local and State report. The Local and State editor must be comfortable leading a reporting staff and supporting editors in a fast-paced multimedia newsroom. This requires editing for print and online and driving issue-oriented news enterprise that will reflect and shape our community, from concept to execution. You may be right for the job if you have strong language skills/news judgment, can edit copy from youngsters and senior staff, work well with all newsroom departments and can stay cool on deadline. You’ll need a minimum of five years editing at a daily newspaper to be considered for the job on our Metro Desk. Connections to the Midwest a plus. Salary up to $62,000, depending on experience.

The Register Star is a 60,000-circulation newspaper in northern Illinois. Our Web site, http://www.facebook.com/l/;rrstar.com, has more than 3.5 million page views per month. Rockford, the third-largest city in Illinois, is a growing market of more than 300,000 within easy driving distance of Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison.
Apply to Managing Editor Doug Gass, 99 E. State St., Rockford, IL 61104 or dgass@http://www.facebook.com/l/;rrstar.com.


2. The Rockford (Ill.) Register Star and http://www.facebook.com/l/;rrstar.com seek a general assignment reporter to join our multimedia newsroom. We're looking for a reporter who has three to five years daily newspaper experience and a Web-first mindset. You may be right for our Metro Desk if you have strong language skills, a thirst for perfection and the ability to stay cool on deadline. We also prize team players who are curious and proactive. Connections to the Midwest a plus. Salary range is $32,000 to $40,000, depending on experience.

Send a resume and clips to Managing Editor Doug Gass, 99 E. State St., Rockford, IL 61104 or dgass@http://www.facebook.com/l/;rrstar.com.

Sorting out health care

Weeding through the increasingly heated rhetoric about health care and trying to find a down-the-middle source of information, I find that FactCheck.org does a credible job of checking out the claims being made in ads, e-mails, etc. The site is pretty even-handed toward both sides of the political aisle.

'Close the J Schools'

From the Huffington Post, a blistering commentary on the value of J schools, especially for graduate degrees. From the lead:

These kids are paying upwards of $70,000 (the cost of Columbia's J-School, including living expenses) for a ghost's chance of landing a job, at pitiful pay, in an industry that is rapidly collapsing. What's going to be the next hot field in graduate study? Blacksmithing? Bloodletting? Steamship design?

It sounded like a freight train

Video from freight train's "black box" camera of the tornado that struck northern Illinois Jan. 7, 2008. The tornado derails the train near Harvard.

NINA survey

NINA members:
Please take a few minutes to complete a survey about NINA training opportunities. The results will help us plan workshops and conferences that address the needs of our members. Thanks!

Scholarships awarded

Five high-school journalists have been honored with scholarships from NINA. Story and photos here.

Deadline 2009: Will Newspapers Survive?

Here's a two-part video from NINA's June 18 panel discussion in Chicago. Part 1:



Part 2:

Film at 11

Video report coming soon from last week's newspaper panel discussion in Chicago. Probably next week, since I'm doing a high-school journalism camp most of this week.

State cash grab, or hoax?

There's an e-mail circulating this week, claiming that Illinois on July 1 will start using cameras in construction zones and issuing $375 fines if you're even 1 mph over the posted limit. A second offense, the e-mail says, costs $1,000 and a 90-day license suspension.

All of which could be believable, given Illinois' financial straits. But it's fishy. But, the DOT links given in the e-mail are dead, and I haven't been able to verify this anywhere. Whether it's true or not, it would make a good story, because a lot of people are getting this e-mail. Here's a Web link to its content.

Video storytelling tips

Here’s another notebook dump from NINA’s recent cross-training workshop. These are notes from a presentation about producing video and audio, by Chris Soprych and Billy Kulpa of the Rockford Register Star.

Find the right story. Generally that’s NOT a meeting story. When you can, do video stories because they’re fun. (An example shown was a reporter attempting to eat a restaurant’s BLT sandwich that contained a full pound of bacon.)

Do a pre-interview. This gets your subject comfortable talking to you before the camera is rolling.

Edit yourself before and during your shoot. Don’t shoot too much video. That equals long editing time. Keep your stories narrowly focused. Whenever possible, know your story’s beginning, middle and end before you shoot it.

Audio is the most important component of video. Use headphones when videotaping, so you will hear the sounds as it will sound on the tape. This can head off disasters.

Also on audio: Be aware of intrusive sounds as you’re doing an interview. Fans blowing, people talking in the background, etc. Most camcorders can’t adjust the ambient sound levels.

Compose your shots before you shoot them. This cuts editing time.

When shooting B-roll (non-interview clips that show context at a scene), make each clip at least 20 seconds.

Always get your subjects’ permission to post video of them to the Web. Tell them what your story includes – print, electronic, audio, video. They should know how you will use their information.

Use a tripod for all but the most urgent, breaking news – and even then, try to use one. “Unless you are jumping out of a plane, you must use a tripod.”

Chris and Billy provided a great handout, which included not only tips like those above, but also advice on audio and video equipment. For a copy, contact Chris Soprych.

Photojournalism for reporters

Here's the first of two notebook dumps from last Thursday's NINA cross-training workshop. This material is from Vince Pierri, photographer and reporter for the Daily Herald. Vince offered photojournalism advice to reporters:

Reporters who also shoot photos have an advantage: They’ve already established rapport with their subjects, who then feel more comfortable during the photo shoot.

Advice he got from Pulitzer-winning photojournalist John White: If you’re being sent out to a spot-news situation, go to the bathroom first. You may have to spend a long time in a confined area roped off by police.

Shoot a lot of images, from many perspectives and focal lengths.

Turn off the flash. Digital cameras, even point-and-shoots, do well in low light. Natural light is far better than flash for news photos.

When possible, notice how the light is falling on your subject. For best results, the light source should be either behind you or off to one side. Avoid backlighting subjects unless you’re purposefully doing that for effect.

Change your shooting angle. Try shooting from low or high angle for a more interesting perspective.

Watch backgrounds. They should be clean. No light poles growing out of people’s heads, etc.

Ask a staff photographer to coach you. Go on a shoot with him/her, watch how they work and then look at the photos afterwards.

Learn Photoshop.

If you are multitasking – reporting, shooting, maybe even shooting video – the priority is on the visual. “If something is unfolding before you, you can’t miss it with your camera.”

Exception: You arrive at a fire scene where the fire is already out, and people are beginning to leave. You’ll need to interview people first, while you still can. The photo possibilities still will look the same a few minutes later.

'Mourning a scourge of the comfortable'

A Washington Post story by Dana Milbank covers the memorial service for John Wilke, Wall Street Journal investigative reporter. The service was held in the Newseum in Washington. The story wonders if this was also a memorial service of sorts for investigative journalism.

Key paragraph:

Most people associate journalism with globetrotting White House correspondents or the ideologues of the op-ed page. But the ones losing their jobs now are more important: thousands of lesser-known John Wilkes across the country, holding officials to account at all levels of government. At a Senate hearing last month on the decline of newspapers, David Simon, the reporter turned HBO producer, put it this way: "The next 10 or 15 years in this country are going to be a halcyon era for state and local political corruption. It is going to be one of the great times to be a corrupt politician."

Event Thursday in Chicago

Just a reminder about the panel discussion about newspapers' future, Thursday, June 18, in Chicago. It's free, but please RSVP to Dirk Johnson by Monday if you're going. It's at the Union League Club, just a short walk from the train station.

Men: Please note that jackets are required in the club.

All a-Twitter

Fascinating article in the new issue of TIME magazine, about how Twitter might change the world. For real. Here's what they say about news and opinion:

Increasingly, the stories that come across our radar — news about a plane crash, a feisty Op-Ed, a gossip item — will arrive via the passed links of the people we follow. Instead of being built by some kind of artificially intelligent software algorithm, a customized newspaper will be compiled from all the articles being read that morning by your social network. This will lead to more news diversity and polarization at the same time: your networked front page will be more eclectic than any traditional-newspaper front page, but political partisans looking to enhance their own private echo chamber will be able to tune out opposing viewpoints more easily.

'Marital Arts'

This is why there will always be a need for good editors:


This isn't one of those Internet forwards. I took this photo myself a couple of years ago. It's the Army-Navy store in Columbia Falls, Mont.

Panel discussion on the future of journalism

For more than a century, Chicago has reigned as perhaps the most vibrant news town in America. But with both major newspapers in the city in bankruptcy, the fate of the reporting trade is murky, here and throughout America.

Join some of Chicago's most prominent reporters, editors and columnists on Thursday, June 18 for a discussion on the fast-changing state of the profession - and the strategies for survival - sponsored by the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association.

WHAT: Distinguished media panel discusses the future of journalism
WHERE: Union League Club, 65 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago
WHEN: June 18, 2009 at 6:30 p.m.

Panelists include:
Mark Brown, columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times
Ray Long, investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune
Eileen Brown, innovations editor at the Daily Herald
Monroe Anderson, blogger and columnist for EbonyJet
Tom McNamee, editorial page editor for the Chicago Sun-Times
Andrew Huff, editor of GapersBlock
Session moderator: Dirk Johnson, former bureau chief for The New York Times and Newsweek magazine who lectures on journalism at Northern Illinois University.

The panel discussion and Q&A session is open to the public and free of charge. Seating is limited. Please RSVP by June 15 to Dirk Johnson .

Hosted by the Union League Club of Chicago. Supporters include the law firm of Kelley Drye & Warren and APCO Worldwide, a public affairs and strategic communications firm.

'Why journalists deserve low pay'

Beyond the provocative title of this essay from the Christian Science Monitor is a fascinating discussion of the economic value created -- or not created -- by journalists. Economist Robert G. Picard argues that technology is "de-skilling" journalism:

To create economic value, journalists and news organizations historically relied on the exclusivity of their access to information and sources, and their ability to provide immediacy in conveying information. The value of those elements has been stripped away by contemporary communication developments. Today, ordinary adults can observe and report news, gather expert knowledge, determine significance, add audio, photography, and video components, and publish this content far and wide (or at least to their social network) with ease. And much of this is done for no pay.

His conclusion: Journalists must create and distribute information that's not available elsewhere. "Every paper will have to be the undisputed leader in terms of their quality and quantity of local news."

Duh. But what Picard then suggests is that newspapers become regional or national leaders in reporting on topics unique to their area, then sell their coverage to other publications.

It's a very interesting read.

Who needs tickets?

I wonder if any reporter might be looking into what appears to be a large increase in police presence on roads and streets everywhere in the past few weeks. My cynical side says, governments are short on revenue, so they're telling police to write more tickets. It would be interesting to check this out. As tickets make their way through the court system, the rate of convictions vs. dismissals would be interesting, too.

Or am I the only one noticing the extra speed traps? (I haven't gotten a ticket, so no sour grapes here. Just curious.)

Cross-training workshop

With traditional newsroom roles both blurring and expanding, journalists may feel a little lost at times. Help is here! On Thursday morning, June 11, at NIU-DeKalb, NINA is offering two sections of cross training followed by a session of new-media training. All will be taught by award-winning journalists.

Sessions include: News Reporting for Non-Reporters, News Photography for Non-Photographers, and Basic Audio and Video Production.

Details, including a printable flier, are here. It's only $20 and you can pay at the door. Please register with me by June 5.

Headline fail

I think every newspaper has done this at least once, but this is a particuarly impressive example.

Your future, part 2

Continued from previous post ...



In the earlier portion of her NINA talk, NIU Business Dean Schoenbachler recommended reading the book, “Strengths Finder,” by Tom Rath, as a step toward knowing and presenting yourself well.

The book helps you map your career. Learn your strengths, then develop a plan to build, grow and develop them, rather than spending so much time addressing weaknesses. Schoenbachler recommended asking yourself questions like:

• What are my strengths?
• What are my passions? How do I implement those passions?
• What are my hobbies?
• What organizations am I a part of?
• What relevant experience do I have?
• What is my story? Can I tell a compelling story about myself?
• What do I hate about my day?
• What is my unique selling proposition? How/why am I different?
• What is my value proposition – what I bring to my market or my job?

See your future. Be your future, Danny

Denise Schoenbachler, NIU College of Business Dean, offered a useful, three-part presentation for journalists at NINA’s recent Spring Conference. Part one was about knowing and presenting yourself well. Part two was growing and maintaining your personal network. And the final piece was: Be prepared for the future.

Here's a notebook dump from that third portion:

“The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different.” – Peter Drucker

College graduates 10 years from now will get jobs that don’t even exist today.

Growth industries in the near future: Health care, education, alternative energy. Growth industries are always driven by demographics, technology, economics and government policy.

As journalists, we are more in the know than most people about where things are headed.

Ask: “What can I do to make myself a bigger part of the future?”

Smart questions:
What will be the growth industries?
Who will lead the growth companies?
Who will be the industry leaders?
What credentials will I need?
What experience will I need?
What are the industry trends to watch?

All speakers agreed that journalism is in major transition, but that opportunities will abound for those who understand them and take advantage.

Schoenbachler: “Historically, great things have come out of hard times.”

Barbara Vitello, Daily Herald: “This is the crucible for our industry. We need to light the Bunsen burner. … I would like to see bold moves. If institutions aren’t going to do that, then maybe we as individuals need to.”

Ray Long: “We’re going to survive and we’re going to come out strong. We are news collection agencies – we just have to find more formats to put them on.”

And more useful material I ran across while writing this:

Seeing the Gorilla: a column by Richard Wiseman at Forbes magazine, part of a package called “Opportunity Knocks.” Sorting our your career plan? This is a good place to start.

Twittering away

Maybe I was wrong. Twitter might have a purpose after all.

In the event you’ve been hiding in a bunker for six months: Twitter is a free, microblogging service. You type up to 140 characters about what you’re doing at any particular moment, hit “update” and instantly alert your “followers” (that term always makes me feel like a cult leader). They can read these messages on their computers or as cell-phone text messages.

Twitter may be responsible for the biggest wave of inane conversation since the 1970s CB radio fad. Thanks to celebrity Twitter – the most vacuous example – I can get up-to-the minute bulletins whenever Demi Moore reads a whole chapter from a book, or when John Mayer moves his bowels. Not to mention the people I actually know, Twittering away their time, chronicling every mundane task and thought. Fascinating.

A few weeks ago, I launched my own Twitter feed as a way to make fun of Twitterers. A sampling of my early Tweets:

Ran out of Scotch tape this morning at my desk. Installed new roll in dispenser.
8:56 AM Mar 25th

Blew my nose just now. May do so again as necessary.
9:03 AM Mar 25th

I think I’m going to sneeze. ... Nope.
9:42 AM Mar 26th

Shockingly, this running monologue of deep thoughts attracted six followers – all people I know, but some of whom I hadn’t heard from in years. People would ask me, “When are you going to give in and Twitter for real?”

“Never,” I’d reply.

Most of Twitter is still narcissistic drivel. But, upon further review … Twitter also has legitimate, productive potential for those of us in the news business. At NINA’s April 24 Spring Conference, Ray Long of the Chicago Tribune showed a variety of ways the service can be used to promote the news product.

Here’s where the whole “citizen journalist” idea might actually work. The professional journalist still gathers and delivers the story, but Twitter followers can help. Say, for instance, an apartment fire breaks out in your town. Using Twitter and the followers you’ve recruited, you can:

• Learn that the fire is going on, in case you’re not near a scanner.
• Tell readers that your paper has a reporter and photographer on the way. This posts to your Web site, alerts your followers to the story and even can send a text message to their cell phones if they so choose.
• Provide live coverage of the event, in short bursts via text message. 1 side of building engulfed in flames. … At least 4 fire depts here. … 8 units in apt building. … Evacuees standing outside.
• Find sources. Anybody know who owns this building? … Anybody heard from anyone who was around when fire started?
• Make the story interactive, while it’s happening. Your followers may text comments, replies, corrections and tips. Obviously information gathered this way needs to be verified, but it can provide a good start.

Basically, Twitter can serve as an amplifier for a reporter’s skills. You’d ask questions like this on the scene, anyway. This just allows you to ask additional people, quickly.

During and after the event, you can promote your Web site, and even provide a link to the story for users with mobile Internet.

Two good things are happening with this whole process: One, you’re engaging with your readers and giving them a greater sense of ownership in the news product. Two, you’re driving users to your Web site.

All of which is a far cry from being instantly updated when some long-lost friend clips her toenails. Which reminds me: I’m @JimKillam on Twitter, and I promise to start using it for something useful. I owe at least that much to my faithful-if-misguided followers.

And here's another Twitter article from Jill Geisler at Poynter.

It's NINA contest time

The Northern Illinois Newspaper Association's annual contest mailing is on its way to members. But you can find everything online now at the NINA Web site - contest rules & categories, entry forms, etc. The contest period is May 1, 2008, to April 30, 2009. Note the June 30 entry postmark deadline. Good luck!

Oh, the irony

Here's a fascinating video news report from 1981, about the advent of reading your daily newspaper ... on a computer. One editor's take: "We're not in it to make money. We're probably not going to lose a lot, but we aren't going to make much, either."

Thanks to Derek Wright at the Northwest Herald for sending this link.

e-Readers on the way

Amazon this week is expected to unveil a new, larger version of its Kindle device -- made especially for reading newspapers. Several other devices have hit the market, or will soon. Could this be news industry's answer to the iPod?

Here's a New York Times story on the subject.

And here's a less-optimistic piece, from TechCrunch.

No pig kissing

The most amusing swine flu story I've seen this week was in the Rockford Register Star. Capron Elementary School in Boone County is canceling its "Kiss the Pig" fundraiser ... out of concern for the health of the pig.

Easy way to post PDFs online

Just discovered a free way to easily post PDFs online -- newspaper pages, documents, whatever. It's called ISSUU. You upload your files, organize them and then they give you a code to imbed in your Web site.

The Northern Star today published an investigative piece about expenses related to NIU's trip to the Independence Bowl. Our students used ISSUU to post scanned PDF files of all the expense reports obtained via the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. Readers then can page through them and it looks like a booklet.

ISSUU makes its money by including advertising on the side of the screen. Or, you can buy the pro edition and eliminate the ads.

So, who knows how long this will be around, but for now it's a good thing to add to your online toolbox.

Contest approacheth

Just a heads-up that NINA's annual contest is approaching. Entry materials will be mailed to your newspapers in the next several weeks. We'll also post materials here and on the regular NINA Web site. The contest period is May 1, 2008, to April 30, 2009. Entry deadline will be June 30. Winners will be announced during our October Fall Conference.

More soon.

The future of investigative reporting

Last night's NewsHour on PBS included a discussion about the future of investigative reporting. One of the interviewees was Deborah Nelson, one of America's best investigative reporters and, we're proud to say, a Northern Star alumna.

Looking at the list of Pulitzer winners announced Monday, Deb said: "By a year or two from now, we won't have this kind of investigative reporting."

There were lots more interesting comments. Here's the transcript.

"Covering School Shootings"

I wanted to call your attention to an online package we've been privileged to help compile, along with our counterparts at the Collegiate Times, the student newspaper at Virginia Tech. It's an educational project for the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, an organization that has been immensely helpful to us since the NIU tragedy of 2-14-08. The package is called "Covering School Shootings."

It's a comprehensive look at how both student papers covered their respective tragedies, and what lessons were learned. It's not graphic, but I'll caution you, it's some emotional stuff.

Pulitzers announced

The Pulitzers were just announced. Look here. Several smaller newspapers won, which is fantastic.

A press kit you can't refuse

Item from my friend and former student Derek Wright of the Northwest Herald:

Did anyone see the article about the “Godfather II” video game press kit that was sent to journalists to review? The care package contained a set of brass knuckles, which are illegal. EA is in a bit of trouble for mailing weapons to the news media.

Here's the story from video gaming site BigDownload.com.

Reinventing the newspaper

From Today's Wall Street Journal: An interesting column by L. Gordon Crovitz about creative, not-so-new approaches to newspapering. Key point:

If readers would prefer more-compact city newspapers, a less-is-more approach could help cut newsprint, printing, distribution and other costs that don't add to the journalism. Newspaper editors could craft a new, forward-looking role for print, alongside the what's-happening-right-now focus of digital news.

Lead of the year

Maybe the best lead I've read this year, from John Keilman of the Chicago Tribune. The story's about a public library in Schaumburg adding "offensive body odors" to its list of prohibitions. The lead:

Patrons of the Schaumburg Township District Library have never been allowed to bring in the noise. Now they can't bring in the funk.

Whole story is here.

NINA Spring Conference

Here's a reminder about our NINA Spring Conference on Friday, April 24 at NIU-DeKalb. The registration deadline is this Thursday, April 16. Cost is $20 and includes light breakfast. You can pay at the door, but we do need you to register by this Thursday so we get an accurate count for the food. Contact me to register.

Full info about the conference is HERE.

More encouraging words

Here's an encouraging story on a gloomy, rainy Monday. It's from the Raleigh News & Observer and it's about how college students prefer to get their news from print newspapers. That's something we've seen in no uncertain terms here at NIU, too. Key quote:

"Anybody can blog, which is great. But if it's in a paper, it's prestigious."

Well, this is good

Hey, some good news! From today's Wall Street Journal:

Ariel Investments LLC has more than doubled its holding in Gannett Co. -- to 12.5% -- marking a rare display of confidence in the beleaguered newspaper industry.
Gannett shares leapt 39% on the news, rising $1.06 to $3.75 in 4 p.m. New York Stock Exchange composite trading ...

Google: We're good for newspapers

Here's Google's side of the argument over whether aggregators like Google and Yahoo should be able to link to AP stories on newspaper sites. It's a thorny legal issue.

Google lawyer Alexander Macgillivray wrote:

"For news articles we've crawled and indexed but do not host, we show users just enough to make them want to read more -- the headline, a 'snippet' of a line or two of text, and a link back to the news publisher's website."

Which I guess is the same thing I just did here. The difference, I'm afraid, is that a whole lot of people scan those quick summaries on Yahoo or Google and never follow the link. So the newspapers and other news organizations do all the heavy lifting, and the aggregators quickly summarize it and then get the traffic and revenue.

All of which, I guess, renders newspapers the news wholesalers and aggregators the news retailers. Except the wholesalers aren't getting paid by the retailers. So before long, this model collapses.

Resource for job hunters

Just stumbled onto this today: CubReporters.org lists entry-level jobs and internships for journalists. I've also added that to our NINA Job Hunters Guide.

NINA spring newsletter

NINA's spring newsletter is here. It includes announcement of our April 24 Spring Conference at NIU-DeKalb:

In a challenging time for newspapers, journalists should find ways to embrace the change surrounding them. What you do to stay current can help you advance, if not save, your career.

This is the message three speakers will bring April 24 at the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association’s spring conference in DeKalb, part of the association’s 2009 theme, "The New Basics."

Two seasoned journalists and the dean of Northern Illinois University’s College of Business will lead a panel discussion about how journalists can make themselves stand out in today’s environment.

Ray Long, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, will talk about how he uses social-networking Web sites to promote his work, while Barbara Vitello, a reporter for the Daily Herald, will explain why her move from the features desk to the courthouse has made her a more valuable asset to her newspaper.

Denise Schoenbachler, dean of the NIU College of Business, will bring a business perspective to the conversation about adapting to an uncertain career path.

Long is a reporter in the Chicago Tribune’s statehouse bureau in Springfield. Long joined the Tribune in 1998 and previously ran the capitol bureau for The Associated Press. He has also worked for the Chicago Sun-Times and the Peoria Journal Star. Long has received numerous reporting honors and was most recently inducted into the Bill Miller Public Affairs Reporting Hall of Fame at the University of Illinois at Springfield, where he is a 1981 graduate of the PAR master’s degree program.

Vitello is a legal affairs writer covering Cook County courts for the Daily Herald, where she has worked since 1997. Vitello also has served as a theater critic and features writer for the paper. Vitello holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in communication from Northwestern University in Evanston.

Schoenbachler holds a Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Kentucky, and has taught at NIU since 1992. She won the NIU Marketing Department’s Excellence in Teaching Award for six straight years. After four years as the department chair, she has been dean of the College of Business since 2006. Her academic research interests have included privacy issues in marketing, and the role of the sales force in new product development.

Re-reading a favorite

This remains one of my favorite pieces of journalism from the past few years. I just read it again tonight and loved it even more than the first time. It has so much to say about our culture, about true beauty and the need for us all to slow down and listen. If you haven't seen this before, it's worth your time.

And here's the video.

Emotion in Seattle

A very poignant video here, from the staff of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Register for Poynter event in Chicago

Forwarding an e-mail from the Chicago Headline Club ...

RSVP deadline nears for Saturday's Poynter workshop

The response has been overwhelming, but you have until noon Friday to reserve a seat at a special interactive workshop: Ethical Journalism in a Digital World. The respected Poynter Institute is coming to Chicago to present a unique workshop, usually available only on its Florida campus.

The Chicago Headline Club is sponsoring the workshop with the help of Loyola University's School of Communication and SPJ-Loyola Student Chapter.

WHEN: 1-4 p.m. Saturday, March 14
WHERE: Beane Hall, on the 13th floor of Loyola University's Lewis Tower, 820 N. Michigan Ave. (Entrance is to the north, on Pearson Street.)
HOW MUCH: Free for Headline Club members, $25 for nonmembers, $5 for students. Join Society of Professional Journalists/Chicago Headline Club and be admitted free. Payment will be accepted at the door.
RSVP: By noon Friday; call (312) 553-0393 or e-mail chc.kathy@gmail.com

Robert M. Steele and Al Tompkins, two Poynter ethics and multimedia applications experts, will lead the workshop that will explore the increasing use of digital information and the possible pitfalls.

Local journalists joining them include: Wes Bleed, news director for WGN-AM; Nicole Dizon, news editor for the Chicago bureau of The Associated Press; Steve Edwards, acting program director for WBEZ-FM; Ron Gleason, director of news and programming for WBBM Newsradio – 780; Jeff Kiernan, CBS 2’s new news director; Anne Swaney, executive producer, online operations for ABC 7 Chicago; Norm Parrish, night editor for the Chicago Sun-Times; Frank Whittaker, vice president of news and station manager of NBC 5; and Don Wycliff, former public editor of the Chicago Tribune.

Steele and Tompkins will involve the audience of journalists, bloggers and students in an interactive discussion of privacy and copyright issues, documentation of research, video usage, Twitter and Facebook and how to maintain credibility and integrity across all platforms. The workshop will be interactive so that participants can join in on discussions, case studies, role-playing and other exercises.

Why some artists are starving

Here is today's celebration of free expression on the Internet. Note: "Free" does not mean "good."

Click on a picture to advance.

Baseball and newspapers

On ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike" show this morning, host Mike Greenberg compared newspapers to 8-track tapes and the phonograph and said that very soon, all newspapers will be gone. He was reacting to the TIME story (see yesterday's post), which today is being disputed because it was a thinly sourced report from 24/7 Wall Street. It was picked up by TIME and published online only.

Co-host Mike Golic chimed in that when younger people want news, they just go to Google. I wanted to reach through my car radio and shout, "You really don't get it. Without newspapers, there IS no Google news!"

First: The Greenberg comment strikes me as ignorant of all newspapers except major metros. We as an industry used to promote the newspaper as the lifeblood of a community. I think that's still true in most small- to midsized communities, and I don't think it's practical yet to assume an online product would have the same impact or reach. A few newspapers may fail, and soon. Most will not.

Second: The Greenberg comment scares me -- not because I think it's true, but because of the pop-culture traction he helps give the idea that newspapers are going away soon. (Think of that "Simpsons" episode where Nelson mocks a print journalist: "Ha ha! Your medium is dying!") Newspapers' disappearance very well could become a self-fulfilling prophecy if we let stand the notion that only the old and uncool read newspapers.

Remember the mid-1990s, when baseball was supposedly dying? It was too slow-paced, too old-school. Kids weren't playing it anymore. The sports magazines and talk shows did a lot of hand-wringing. Pro wrestling: Now that was what young people wanted to watch.

Then, a few things happened. First, Cal Ripken. Then a resurgence of the Yankees. Then a host of new, retro ballparks. Then, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire (yeah, yeah, I know) and the tieback to Babe Ruth and Roger Maris. Fantasy baseball. ESPN and DirecTV and the ability to watch any game, anywhere.

Underneath it all, baseball changed the way it marketed itself. It highlighted its new-era stars, but it also celebrated its rich history, its connection with the past.

From my little corner of the world -- a college newsroom -- I've seen the baseball resurgence. Eyes widen when we talk about baseball records, or lineups from 20-30-40 years ago. Students hang on every pitch of spring training games. That doesn't happen with other sports. Yeah, we all know about steroids and out-of-control salaries, but it hasn't ruined maybe the best game ever invented. There's something signifcant about watching the same game my father and grandfather watched, talking about the same records, wondering if the Cubs will ever win anything. Younger generations have figured it out.

I wonder if newspapers could experience a similar renaissance. Could we as an industry sell ourselves on being old-school? On being a little slower-paced, and a lot more thorough? On connecting a community with its past? On the fact that we're not putting our heads in the sand when it comes to technology, but we're also not giving up on a product that's still vitally important to its readers? What if the newspaper industry collectively marketed itself, as baseball did? What if we created public-service ads that show what America would look like without newspapers?

(Part of me wonders if we'd even be having this conversation had our industry not made the disastrous decision to give away most of our content for free online.)

In short, this conversation is about us. Why don't we lead it, instead of reacting to often-uninformed opinions that are unfortunately shaping our future?

Ten on death watch

I'm almost afraid to look lately when TIME magazine writes about the newspaper industry. Here's the latest, a list of "The 10 Most Endangered Newspapers in America." Well, the 10 big-city papers, anyway. The Sun-Times is No. 7, unfortunately.

Interesting that the magazine says many of these papers may go to online-only. I wonder what kind of news operations that would pay for. Or, if that would leave open the door for a print product to return when the economy improves.

New teeth for FOIA?

Many papers over the weekend wrote about the new efforts to revise and strengthen Illinois' Freedom of Information Act. The Chicago Tribune called it "a microcosm of a broader quest for more open government at every level in Illinois."

Among the changes would be a deadline of five business days for government to respond to FOIA requests (it's now seven); bigger penalties for violators; and a push for records to be provided electronically when available. Here's the bill. And working on behalf of the good guys is Don Craven, legal counsel for many Illinois newspapers.

My cynical side says this is Lisa Madigan making friends in the media as a prelude to her run for governor, and that the changes being touted might get scaled back before anything is finalized. But, what's right is right. Now that this effort is very public, it's time for Illinois editorial pages to push these changes as a huge step toward reform. We all want a better-informed public and an increased atmosphere of openness at all levels of government in Illinois. This seems like a path in that direction.

A Death in Denver

The Rocky Mountain News in Denver will publish its last edition Friday, after Scripps failed to find a buyer.

John Kass on getting a job in journalism

Tribune columnist John Kass was our keynote speaker Friday at the Illinois College Press Association Convention. Some highlights:

• He compared Illinois politicians to “medieval warlords who put their idiot children in front of the peasants and say ‘this is your new leader.’”
  
• “In politics, friends and enemies are not permanent. Interests are. … Don’t be friends with these people.”
  
• Bloggers who report can find jobs in this business. Bloggers who only ruminate will not. “Change out of your pajamas and go outside with a notebook.”
  
• “Don’t use your reporter notebook as a weapon.” In other words, keep it in your pocket or purse when you first arrive at a scene, and just talk to people first.
  
• There are three ways people get jobs in journalism. One, your parents know people. Two, you make yourself a top student and get all the best internships (which often are unpaid and many students can’t afford to take). Or three, you get the stories that groups 1 and 2 don’t get.
  
• If you want to move up the ladder in journalism, “Give yourself five years and work your butt off.” Use nights and weekends to work on enterprise stories. “Get to work early. Stay late. Keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth shut. Write with a voice, and with facts.”
  
• The quickest way to the Tribune or other destination paper from a small suburban paper is to get the stories they don’t. “If you are beating the hell out of them, they’re going to notice you.”

'Tinker' turns 40

Here's a story from Randy Swikle highlighting the 40th anniversary of a huge First Amendment ruling. School administrators need to be reminded of this case. Randy authorizes newspapers to use this story. That's him in the photo with Mary Beth Tinker.

By Randy Swikle

With a small strip of black cloth, Mary Beth Tinker, a 13-year-old junior high student, changed every public school in America.

It was 40 years ago — Feb. 24, 1969 — when she got the U.S. Supreme Court to say students have First Amendment rights in school. In a landmark ruling, Tinker v. Des Moines Board of Education, the court said, “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional right to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

Mary Beth’s offense was to wear a black armband to school on Dec. 16, 1965, to protest the Vietnam War. The principal of her Des Moines school got word of the planned protest and met with other administrators to quickly adopt a policy prohibiting students from wearing armbands. Mary Beth and two others were suspended when they refused to remove their armbands.

“Students may not be regarded as closed-circuit recipients of only that which the State chooses to communicate,” the Supreme Court ruled. “They may not be confined to the expression of those sentiments that are officially approved.”

The court set parameters for students and for school authorities: Student expression must not be libelous or obscene, not cause a clear and substantial disruption or not otherwise invade the rights of others. Principals may not censor speech simply to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always accompany an unpopular viewpoint.

During the past 25 years, the Tinker decision has been modified by several new court cases but never reversed. With the goal of balancing pedagogical concerns with democratic education, the courts have defined instances when student freedoms can be curtailed further in order to protect the responsibility of school officials to implement the school mission and to act in loco parentis.

However, the Supreme Court has never backtracked in its assertion that students have First Amendment rights that must be respected in school.

Applying Tinker and more recent First Amendment decisions to student newspapers, the courts seem to be saying students do not have unbridled control of their publications, but neither do administrators have the power to arbitrarily censor the student press for reasons that are not educationally and democratically sound. School officials are expected to be viewpoint neutral in issues of censorship, intervening only when students have exceeded the limits of protected speech or have clearly contravened the school mission in a way that legally justifies censorship.

Controversial topics are fair game for student newspaper coverage, whether or not the paper is considered a public forum. Yet, some administrators favor maintaining “tranquil waters” over creating “waves” in the pool of ideas expressed at school. Such an attitude can demoralize students and interfere with the very purpose of education — enlightenment.

Sometimes, in ways contrary to the school mission, administrators yield to political pressures or try to hide personal vulnerabilities. Sometimes, in ways contrary to noble ethics, student journalists prioritize self-interests and use the power of the press to inflate their egos rather than to serve their readers.

Every partner of a school community should be vigilant in guarding the First Amendment and promoting awareness when the protection it offers is abused. School officials should use reason rather than clout in working with students to nurture a free and responsible student press. Student journalists should be empathetic to administrator concerns and weigh their perspectives as they hope to have their own considered.

The 1969 Tinker decision is an important lesson in American democracy. Mary Beth Tinker, just 13 years old, inspired change that gave young people a new appreciation of their rights as citizens. She spoke with a black armband.

Randy Swikle, a retired journalism teacher from Johnsburg High School, is Illinois director of the Journalism Education Assoc. He also is a board member of the Northern Illinois Newspaper Assoc. and of the Illinois Press Foundation.

Encouraging words

One of our 2008 grads dropped by on Friday, then sent a follow-up e-mail. She has not found full-time job in journalism yet, but she is taking such an upbeat look at a dismal job market that I thought this was worth sharing (with her permission):

The truth is, you graduate college thinking you'll have a full time job w/ benefits lined up right afterwards but that's just really not the case for most people anymore. It may take a bit longer. I think the sooner they realize that that's OK, i think the more prepared they'll begin to feel.

A job right after college doesn't necessarily have to be with a prestigious daily working as a reporter. It could be interning or freelancing at a neighborhood weekly or monthly magazine which can help get your foot in the door to something bigger later on. Even if this contract job doesn't pan out for me, I know I made enough contacts with the people that I worked with. They're keeping an eye out for positions for me, and I can continue to freelance.

I'm not going to lie, for a while I was pretty desperate. But then I realized it was going to be OK and that my prior vision for the future was a bit skewed. Once I adjusted it, I realized I could still do the same things I wanted to do (writing) but just not exactly in the same forum I had expected, at least for now until the job market picks up and I have more of a choice. Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury to be picky. While a full time job with benefits is ideal, contract work and freelancing is pretty cool too-- I'm enjoying it.

From my experience though, employers in our industry are looking for people who are really active in social media, so facebook, twitter, linkedin, delicious, digg, ning etc. and they want people who blog. Any experience using it in a business perspective is a HUGE plus.

She also shared some of the links that have led her to freelance and contract work, which I've posted at our job-hunting site.

Illinois Journalist of the Year

Forwarding this from the NIU Department of Communication. Please consider nominating someone! Nomination form and more info are here.

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
2009 ILLINOIS JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

Northern Illinois University
Department of Communication


DEADLINE - MARCH 2, 2009

THE AWARD

The Illinois Journalist of the Year award is presented annually by the Department of Communication of Northern Illinois University to a person who has made a significant contribution to the mass media or, through them, to the public they serve, either as a result of a single accomplishment during the past year, or through a sustained effort over a longer period of time.

ELIGIBILITY

Any journalist employed by an Illinois mass medium, or an Illinois resident associated with a national medium serving the people of Illinois, is eligible to receive the award.

NOMINATIONS

Nominations for the award are solicited from the media of mass communication of Illinois, professional organizations and associations in this state, and leading educators in its schools and departments of journalism. We invite your to nominate a media person of your choice.

JUDGING

A panel of judges consisting of the chair of the Department of Communication, members of its faculty, and student presidents of appropriate journalism organizations at NIU will consider all nominations and choose the award winner.

PRESENTATION

The “Illinois Journalist of the Year – 2009” award will be presented at NIU’s 2009 Journalism Banquet in April. A scholarship also will be presented in the recipient’s name to a deserving journalism student.

Archives and background checks

Got a call this morning from someone who graduated from NIU 18 years ago. In 1991, he was charged with a drug crime and the paper reported on it. He says he paid the penalty and a judge later expunged the record.

But now he’s looking for a job and is concerned that this will pop up in a background check and eliminate him contention. So, he asked if his name could be removed from our archives. I googled his name and, sure enough, there’s the 1991 Northern Star story on the first page of results.

If he provided proof of the court disposition, we could go back into the archives and add a footnote that his record has been expunged. But that's only part of his problem, because the google search will still bring up his name next to a drug crime ... and that might be enough to eliminate him from a pool of job applicants.

This is coming up more and more often. How are others responding to these kinds of requests?

Saving newspapers, a nickel at a time

In this week's cover story, TIME's Walter Isaacson takes an interesting look at saving the newspaper industry. Among the"shocking" recommendations:

• Readers should pay for what we produce for them; We weaken our bond with readers if we do not depend on them directly for revenue.


• Come up with a one-click method of micropayment. Think iTunes.

Excerpt:

According to a Pew Research Center study, a tipping point occurred last year: more people in the U.S. got their news online for free than paid for it by buying newspapers and magazines. Who can blame them? Even an old print junkie like me has quit subscribing to the New York Times, because if it doesn't see fit to charge for its content, I'd feel like a fool paying for it.
This is not a business model that makes sense. Perhaps it appeared to when Web advertising was booming and every half-sentient publisher could pretend to be among the clan who "got it" by chanting the mantra that the ad-supported Web was "the future." But when Web advertising declined in the fourth quarter of 2008, free felt like the future of journalism only in the sense that a steep cliff is the future for a herd of lemmings.
Newspapers and magazines traditionally have had three revenue sources: newsstand sales, subscriptions and advertising. The new business model relies only on the last of these. That makes for a wobbly stool even when the one leg is strong. When it weakens — as countless publishers have seen happen as a result of the recession — the stool can't possibly stand.

'Free is not enough'

Fantastic piece by Chris Anderson in the weekend Wall Street Journal called, "The Economics of Giving It Away." It's about how so many online businesses -- including newspapers -- have been built on giving away digital goods and services ... and how in a down economy that model won't sustain itself. Excerpt:

... YouTube is still struggling to match its popularity with revenues and Facebook is selling commodity ads for pennies after its effort to charge for intrusive advertising led to a user backlash. And news-sharing site Digg, for all its millions of users, still doesn't make a dime. A year ago, that hardly mattered: The business model was "build to a lucrative exit, preferably in cash." But now the exit doors are closed and cash flow is king.

Does this mean that Free will retreat in a down economy? Probably not. The psychological and economic case for it remains as good as ever -- the marginal cost of anything digital falls by 50% every year, making pricing a race to the bottom, and "Free" has as much power over the consumer psyche as ever. But it does mean that Free is not enough. It also has to be matched with Paid. Just as King Gillette's free razors only made business sense paired with expensive blades, so will today's Web entrepreneurs have to not just invent products that people love, but also those that they will pay for. Not all of the people or even most of them -- free is still great marketing and bits are still too cheap to meter -- but enough to pay the bills. Free may be the best price, but it can't be the only one.

For journalists looking for work

You may have heard: A lot of journalists are looking for work right now. You may be one of them. The Northern Illinois Newspaper Association wants to help. If you or someone you know is looking for full-time, part-time or free-lance work, visit http://www.ninaonline.org. You can send us a position-wanted ad and we'll post it on our Web site for free. And then we'll promote the site to employers.

This is rather unsophisticated for now -- a simple e-mail response from you, and me posting those on our site. We'll see how it works and may make adjustments. But please spread the word on this and will hope it helps people out.

Over-the-top headlines

Lots of today’s inauguration front pages are online at www.newseum.org. Apparently in many newsrooms, "no cheering in the press box" was suspended for a day. To read some of the headlines, a visitor to this planet would think America had been wiped out by volcanoes and was starting over. These were some of the most over-the-top headlines I saw:

America 2.0 – RedEye (Chicago)
From the mountaintop – Baltimore Examiner
We begin again – Cape Cod Times and several others
At last – Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press
A glorious beginning – New York Daily News
We must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America (no quotes) – The Repository (Canton, Ohio)
Let’s GOBama – Bild, Germany
Let the remaking of America begin today (no quotes) – The Guardian, London
Renewal – Brownsville (Texas) Herald

Hope over fear – Many. Some put it in quotes, some didn’t
A new era – many. Some with quotes, some without.

And from a few who managed to play it straight and not faint with excitement:
Obama takes oath, and nation in crisis embraces the moment – New York Times
Obama pledges to remake America – USA Today
Obama takes charge – Washington Post
Many went with President Barack Obama or just Mr. President

To be sure, Tuesday was a huge day in American history and worthy of celebration. But I think you saw a lot of headline writers get caught up in the hooplah and momentarily forget what we’re here for. Even just adding quote marks to some of the headlines would have made a big difference, journalistically.

And don’t even get me started on the TV news coverage.

Northwest Herald reporters honored

Big congrats to Kevin Craver and Danielle Guerra of the Northwest Herald, who were named Monday as national Journalists of the Year by Suburban Newspapers of America.

Here's the story from the Northwest Herald about the honor. And here's the reason they won, a six-month investigation that led to a series of stories, both print and multimedia, about brain cancer lawsuits in McCullom Lake.

The tabloid Trib

So, the Tribune is going tabloid for its street editions, while remaining broadsheet for home delivery. I think this follows news-design guru Mario Garcia's opinion that all papers will be tabloids in the next few years.

What I found even more interesting than the Trib story were the reader comments. Some still equate "tabloid" with trashy, loud and garish. I'm betting that those are older, longtime readers. I don't see those same negative connotations with younger readers. I guess it's all about what you're used to.

Another interesting question raised by a reader: Will readers plunk down 75 cents for a tabloid Trib when it's right next to the RedEye, which is free?

This seems like an interim step.

Newspapers and automakers

And from TIME, here's another take on media challenges, with an interesting comparison to the automotive industry. Highlights:

Now, those of you working for car-parts suppliers (or those of you laid off by them) can be excused if you don't break out your tiny violins out of pity for journalists. Where all this becomes your problem is that the daisy chain of free info--the Drudge links, the news crawls, the text updates--ultimately leads back to a professional journalist, somewhere, getting paid to learn stuff. And right now, he or she is weighing job opportunities in telemarketing. ...

Like the car companies, individual media outlets will probably have to learn to be smaller. And they'll need to see their new-media "problems" as part of the solution. Internet users don't hate the media. In fact, when given the tools by something like Twitter or YouTube, they want to be the media. People want the vetted information the news media offer--and they want to riff on it, respond to it and even, as in Mumbai, add to it. Journalists should embrace that rather than futilely fight it.
This means offering users more ways of interacting, commenting and contributing. It means seeing new media not as the dumbing down of civilization but as a new way of telling stories and even finding stories. And it means recognizing that the audience is no longer passive--it wants and expects to participate, even as it wants help in making sense of the info deluge.

Media predictions for 2009

In a post called "Pragmatic Media Predictions for 2009," NIU and Northern Star alumna Diane Mermigas, who writes the daily "On Media" column for Mediapost (requires free subscription), lays out a very iffy coming year for all media. A couple of her predictions:

Some local TV broadcasters and newspapers will begin to monetize enough to stay in business. Some internet players will begin to dabble more in this huge void. Relevant local information, social sharing, retail coupons, school and community data, sports scores, car pools, etc. remain a big missed opportunity. It will be delivered to internet-connected mobile devices, including smartphones. A new player will emerge and do for local content and services online what Craigslist did for regionalized classified advertising.

Major advertisers such as automotives, financial services, retail and real estate will not return any time soon; they will be diminished and different when they rebound a year from now. That is a disaster for local media, which could easily see more than half their ad revenue base wiped out in 2009. For instance, automotives generally have comprised 40% of local TV income.